Given the number of times I’ve reviewed games made by Intelligent Systems it should come as no surprise that I’m a fan of the Paper Mario franchise. This series of spin-off RPGs began on the N64 and have become famous for their creativity and charming stationary-themed world of paper-thin characters. This 3DS entry, the first on a handheld, is the fourth game in the series and, like the platforming-orientated Super Paper Mario before it, changes up the formula. The focus this time is on stickers. Continue reading →

When it comes to certain video games, more of the same is not necessarily a bad thing. This is generally the case with Fire Emblem, a series that sticks fairly faithfully to its well-balanced and addictive formula. But while the strong core gameplay has remained sensibly unchanged for years the structure is open to embellishments and new concepts that give each new release a different flavour, an extra layer of complexity to make it stand out from its brothers, something to add a little variety to the familiar. Perhaps the boldest and most controversial example can be found in The Sacred Stones, the third entry in the series for the Game Boy Advance (second to see release in Europe). With the title available to 3DS Ambassadors how does it stack up next to The Sword of Flame? Continue reading →

The last eighteen months of software releases on Nintendo’s ailing Wii haven’t exactly been loaded with must-haves, a fact that has made what few major new titles have arrived all the more significant. If Skyward Sword was the biggest Wii game of last year (and it was) then Xenoblade Chronicles was a fairly close second. The game is the first of three originally cited for a Japan only existence that Operation Rainfall lobbied to be given a western release (the other two being The Last Story and Pandora’s Tower) and hit European shores last August with the American release coming early in April. But the hype surrounding this game before launch extended to more than its significance as a Wii game. The entire Japanese RPG genre has been in poor health for years, struggling under the weight of tired storytelling and gameplay clichés with western creations going from strength to strength, even the almighty Final Fantasy has seemingly lost its way. With near universal-acclaim from critics who have cited it as the best JRPG in the last five, many even ten years, Xenoblade Chronicles is arguably one of the most important Japanese video games of the current console generation. Continue reading →

I like Ike. In fact I like him more than I thought. This is the second Fire Emblem game I’ve reviewed and it’s the second time Path of Radiance has been mentioned on my blog. In the Top 100 Games 2011 post it was listed as my 41st favourite game with a score of 9.3 out of 10. I did mention in that post that the positions of each game and their respective score was changeable and that’s exactly what’s happened here. This is only the second time I’ve played Path of Radiance and I very often feel that a single playthrough of a game is not always enough to gauge how good it is. The real indicator here was that I played this game immediately after The Legend of Zelda – Oracle of Ages, which has a score of 9.4. I’m happy with that score but of the two games I know which one I enjoyed playing more.

In 2005 Fire Emblem – Path of Radiance became the first home-console game in the long-running series to be released in the UK. Set on the continent of Tellius it tells the story of the Greil Mercenaries and Ike, the blue-haired son of the group’s commander, Greil, one of the most capable fighting men in the world. As the protagonist Ike starts out wet behind the ears, inexperienced in combat but determined to one day match his father’s prowess. In the early stages of the game he learns how to be a mercenery by joining in with a handful of jobs. Ike learns the ropes at the same pace we do. Aside from dealing with the odd brigand Crimea, the country where the mercenaries are based seems peaceful enough for a while until the straight-talking, tactically-minded mage Soren returns from studying in the country’s capital to deliver news that neighbouring Daein has invaded. While deciding what to do they encounter some Daien forces and unwittingly rescue Princess Elincia, the only surviving member of the Crimean royal family whose very existence was previously kept secret. Deciding to aid the princess they escort her to Gallia, home of the beast tribes where even more perils await. After a few twists I won’t spoil Ike finds himself travelling with Elincia on a long road to liberate Crimea.

It’s a superb story. Most fantasy games don’t get the kind of mature, well written narrative we’re treated to in Path of Radiance. Not bogged down by an overemphasis on magic, grotesque monsters or depressing darkness Path of Radiance presents a twisting, thought-provoking tale that deals with politics, class, racism and equality and balances the heavier aspects of its plot with a bright, colourful visual style and a healthy smattering of humour. The story is handled almost entirely by dialogue scenes with static charcter art and text boxes but the writing is so subtle and intelligent that even this slightly simplistic approach manages to be deeply immersive. Said character art is hand-drawn and absolutely lovely lending every character real personality and style to compliment their dialogue. The whole setup is backed up by a lovely, varied musical score that weaves a breezy sense of adventure one minute and a palapable atmosphere of peril and tension the next. There are a few CG cut scenes complete with reasonable voice acting but although they’re beautfiully animated they’re few and far between. That said, it’s utterly absorbing and you will really care about the large cast of characters.

The character speaking appears brighter on screen.

Which makes the gameplay all the more intense. As I mentioned in my Shadow Dragon review the Fire Emblem series is famous for its inclusion of permanent character death. If one of your allies falls in battle they are gone forever and there is no way to revive them short of reloading you last save. This forces the player to play cautiously and think very strategically as they navigate their units round the 3D top-down maps engaging with foes. One reason why there are so many charcters to enlist throughout the game is to accommodate for the prospect of losing a significant number of characters. Since you can only use a limited number in each quest, usually no more than twelve, you will build up a surplus of charcters unless you have a habit of losing them. Of course one quirk of permanent charcter death is that there’s no way for the script to know who is still alive at any time which means most of the characters will be largely absent from the main story’s important scenes. It’s no good if Rolf has something critically important to contribute to the plot of chapter twenty-one if he died in chapter thirteen you see. For this reason some characters are better developed than others but although the less important figures don’t show up in the story much they do get little skits of their own to let you get to know them either through support conversations, which actually benefit you in the field or in optional conversations accessible in the game’s base menu.

And what a great cast of characters they are. The Greil Mercenaries, including Boyd, Oscar, Rolf, Soren, Shinon, Gatrie, Rhys, Mist, Greil and Ike are an immensely likeable bunch and they gain a huge number of equally charismatic allies from Mia the feisty female Myrmidon to Makalov the lovable gambling waster. They do, of course, all belong to their own class of fighter with their own strangths and weaknesses and designated weapons, for instance, Boyd the Fighter uses axes while Gatrie the Knight favours lances and Rhys the priest heals allies with staves. By ganining experience they can all level up and eventually change classes and sometimes gain the ability to fight with different weapons. This is nothing new to the series but one thing that is new is the laguz units. The people of Tellius are divided into human beorc and the shape-shifting laguz who appear human normally but can shift into animal forms including cats, tigers, hawks and crows and are very powerful indeed. They can’t maintain these dangerous forms indefinitely however, unless they use certain stat-reducing equipment and a gague counts down until they automatically shift back into their vulnerable humanoid forms. The laguz units add a whole new layer to the already very deep strategy and provide the story with one of its most interesting aspects. Laguz and beorc don’t traditionally get on, the latter routinely referring to the former as ‘sub-human’, fearing anf hating them and sometimes even enslaving them. Needless to say the laguz don’t take kindly to such treatment and certain characters, namely female cat Lethe are never shy to express their intense dislike for the beorc and regard them as weak. There’s tension between characters even within your own army and several people definitely go on an ethical journey through the game’s sub-plots.

Blue squares show Ike's movement range, yellow, his attack range.

But that’s only half the story. The tight strategy gameplay is just about the most addictive and satisfying of any game I’ve ever played a feat Intelligent Systems achieved by giving you a strong sense of constant progress. The game is completely linear divided into twenty-nine chapters with no variation. To begin with the progress is divided into story sections and the mission itself with the base menu becoming available after a few chapters. From here you can get stuck into the nitty-gritty of micromanagement by outfitting your army with weapons and items, up to four of each, assigning new skills or awarding bonus experience as well as engaging in support conversations. Once you’re happy with your preparations you can proceed through some more story until you get to the map and the game proper. This was the first Fire Emblem game to feature 3D maps and charcter models and on the whole they’re well-presented and colourful although the character models look very angular and ugly if the camera ever zooms in. The various in game themes inject a sense of atmosphere and urgency. In each chapter you will have a specific objective, usually to rout the enemy or defeat the boss but sometimes you’ll be required to defend a space for a set number of turns or have all your units escape from the map. The turns are organised in up to four phases, first the player phase where you move and attack, second comes the partner phase when any yellow-computer-controlled partner units that are present make themselevs known fighting for your cause. Next comes the enemy phase and finally the other phase if applicable, both computer-controlled, obviously. Most of the time it will just be player and enemy phases making up the turns as the other two only crop up occasionally as the chapter demands. In the player phase you command your units one by one moving them around the grid and engaging and defeating foes or healing allies. It’s packed with depth and once you’ve got to grips with everything you’ll be considering which are the best units to fight which enemies and choosing the right weapon, attacking enemies from a distance with ranged weapons, exploiting weapon advantages, making use of charcter abilities, considering terrain advantages, visiting houses to gain items, opening treasure chest and stealing items from enemies with theives, recruiting new allies and rescuing units in peril.

Path of Radiance introduces a number of new features to the series such as the prospect of gaining bonus experience. The scenarios of some quests encourage you to avoid attacking certain enemy units, for example in one map as well as the Daein Army you’ll face off against some local vigilantes. Leave them alone and you’ll gain bonus experience that can be redeemed in the base menu with any unit you choose. It’s completely optional but adds another layer of depth. Then there are support conversations, not a new feature but done a bit differently here. Each unit has a number of other predetermined units it can have support conversations with. Have a given unit fight alongside compatible units enough and you can watch said conversations in the base menu thus increasing their support relationship. Units with support relationship can give each other a stat boost when standing within a few spaces of each other in battle. It’s a welcome feature but not one you necessarily notice an advantage from, the same goes for a unit’s biorhythm which is supposed to influence their performance but is a bit of a mystery.

Boyd faces off against a fellow axe-wileding Fighter.

When units fight it’s not always to the death, instead they will trade one blow each with damage done according to the strength stat of the attacker and their equipped weapon and the defending unit’s defence stat. If one unit’s stat for speed is high enough compared to the other they will get a second attack in the bout which can make a world of difference. Further to that both contesting units will have a percentage value for their chances to land a hit based on their various opposing stats and also a percentage chance to land a three-times-as-powerful critical hit. Before attacking you can view a window listing the damge each unit will do and whether either can attack twice as well as both percentages effectively giving you a good idea of how the battle will go. Fights play out on a seperate screen with much more detailed character models as they exchange blows. It’s not as pretty as the hand-drawn sprites of the past and many players will choose to switch off the battle animations in favour of the more basic equivalent shown on the map screen to save time but they add a sense of reality to the game.

If a unit fights in a battle but doesn’t land a hit they gain a single experience point, hit the enemy and they got a fair few, around fifteen or more, achieve a kill and they earn upwards of forty points, sometime a hundred for defeating a boss. Units level up each time they gain a hundred experience points, increasing their stats randomly and change class after levelling up at level twenty. In addition to this each unit has a letter grade for thier skill with their appropriate weapons from the lowest E to the highest S which dictates what kind of specific weapons they can use, each individual type within each weapon class has a designated class, for example Iron Swords are E class while Silver Swords are A class and only units of that class or better can equip them. Units can improve their weapon class by using that weapon lots of times.

Ike and Mist's deceased mother in a CG cut scene.

Levelling-up your units is a constant and steady process and therefore immensely satisfying. Building up a strong army and mopping up waves of enemies and benfiting from the experience as an addictive process and there is an immense level of enjoyment to be had with meticulously organising your team. It’s a cerebral affair that demands careful strategy and thought with every move.

Such is the way of the Fire Emblem series but what makes Path of Radiance stand out so much? Well apart from the riveting story there’s Ike. He is by far the best hero in the series, charismatic and likeable but still an underdog who goes on a emotional journey through the plot remaining strong throughout. Putting it simply he’s just very, very cool and one of the best units in the game. The supporting cast stand head and shoulders against their equivalents in other games in the series too. It’s also incredibly long, this recent playthrough took me more than forty hours to complete. More than anything though it’s just an immensely rewarding game to immerse yourself in. Every aspect of the game’s design combines to give you a mesmerising experience that will make you want to spend all your free time doing nothing else. It’s not perfect, there are some rough edges, if you lose a valuable unit through a lapse in organisation you’ll be forced to resent and retread maybe an hour of progress which is a big pain and perhaps most pertinently it’s not the kind of title you can get the most out of unless you’re a hardcore gamer but those quibbles aside Fire Emblem – Path of Radiance is a rich and massively entertaining experience. Oh, but the Wii sequel Radiant Dawn is better.

Presentation – 8

Superlative writing and a crisp appearence make for a highly satisfactory package but more could be done to smooth out the details.

Gameplay – 9

The most compulsory kind of addictive gameplay that is constantly rewarding but despite comprehensive tutorials could prove dauntingly complex.

Graphics – 7

Very pretty on the whole but textures and character models can appear bland. The use of colour is nice though.

Sound – 8

A rousing and varied soundtrack is complemented by a creditable array of sound effects.

A quite magnificent strategy RPG experience that blends incredibly addictive gameplay with an involving story to brilliant effect. It won’t be for everyone and there are pitfalls but fans of the genre and particularly the series owe it to themselves to dive in and experience the rich, rewarding ride.

There’s been a lot of sickness in the prince’s castle this December and the prince has had to chip in with Christmas preparations where the servants haven’t been able to so this review is a little late in coming despite the fact that I finished the game, my first replay since getting it in 2009, some days before the 25th. I will, of course, be reviewing all three of the games I got for Christmas (Donkey Kong Country Returns, Sonic Colours and Muramasa – The Demon Blade, a very Wii-oriented side-scrolly Christmas) in due course. For my first game review, however, it’s Fire Emblem – Shadow Dragon.

I came to the Fire Emblem party late. Developed by the sainted Intelligent Systems the series began on the Famicon in 1990 and created an all new genre by combining the Strategy game with the RPG to make the world’s first Strategy RPG. The first half-dozen titles were Japan exclusive and the series didn’t make its way westwards until two of its characters, Marth and Roy had made an appearence as playable combatants in the Gamecube’s Super Smash Bros. Melee. Finally in 2004 (in Europe at least) Fire Emblem – The Sword of Flame for the Game Boy Advance, simply titled Fire Emblem here, became the first game in the series to see release and I ignored it.

Well I didn’t ignore it exactly, I liked the art style a lot and the Smash Bros. connection engaged my interest but I didn’t buy it. In those days I didn’t have enough money to justify buying many games unless I knew I’d enjoy them and Fire Emblem was an unknown quantity to me. I didn’t get The Sacred Stones either and even when the series made an appearence on the Gamecube in Path of Radiance when precious few quality titles were being released for the platform I still wasn’t moved to make a purchase. Finally in 2008 Path of Radiance received a direct sequel in Radiant Dawn for the Wii and I finally made my long overdue Fire Emblem bow.

I’ll go into detail about my experience with Radiant Dawn when I come to review it as I plan to do some time in 2011 but for now suffice it to say that it took me a very long time to get into it. Fire Embelm is a very complex, multi-faceted game and takes dedication to master. Eventually everything clicked with me and by the time the credits rolled I was a confirmed fan of this cult series. In fact I would now go as far to say that there are only three video game series I look forward to new instalments of more now, Mario, Zelda and Metroid. So naturally when this game, a remake of the title that started it all was released for the DS in 2009 I didn’t beat around the bush about getting it.

As I said Shadow Dragon is a remake of the first game in the series and as such follows the story of Marth, the original Fire Emblem hero. Marth is the prince of the Kingdom of Altea who is forced into exile by the invading army of a previously allied nation. Marth raises an army and fights to bring peace back to the continent by defeating Medeus the Shadow Dragon, a task that requires the divine sword Falchion. The story is unfolded between missions by some extremely well-written dialogue between static pieces of very nicely drawn character art. There are plenty of twists and turns along the way but the story plays second fiddle to the massively addictive gameplay.

Battles play out on the top screen with the map on the bottom screen.

Here’s how it all works. You take control of a party of characters, each belonging to its own class, (myrmidons, cavaliers, archers, thieves, mages, fighters, knights etc.) leading them through a linear succession of quests in which you play a hyper-evolved game of chess against an opposing army with a view to completing a set objective (in this game the objective never strays from seizing a certain square on the grid which is always guarded by a boss). You and the enemy AI take turns in moving your units around the grid and engaging in battles with opponents. When you move within attacking range of an enemy you can choose to engage it whereupon you will be shown a screen that essentially predicts the outcome of the battle. You will be shown all of the relevant stats of both you and your enemy including HP (that’s RPG jargon for hit points), how much damage the two of you will do to each other, your chances of landing a hit in per cent and your chances of landing a three-times-as-powersul critical hit in per cent. The two units will only strike each other once unless one unit has a high enough speed statistic compared to the other in which case that unit can attack twice but even then battles don’t always end with one unit’s defeat.

Sound simple enough? Okay once you’ve grasped that much you need to factor in the following. Some weapon types have advantages over others (swords beat axes, axes beat lances, lances beat swords) and gain a slight damage boost when pitted against them. Some weapons can attack from a range of two squares meaning you can damage an enemy with an attack range of one square without reprisal. Some weapons have a massively boosted effect on certain units (bows against flying units, hammers against armoured units etc.) and can easily wipe out even powerful units in a single blow. All weapons have a limited number of uses which deplete every time you score a hit meaning you will want to be conservative with your stronger weapons which have fewer uses than weaker ones. Each unit will have an A-E grade for adaptness at the weapon(s) it is able to wield restricting the grade of weapon it can use and can only increase their grade by using the weapon type a lot. You can recruit new units by talking to them with the appropriate character instead of attacking although that will still be an option. Certain units can use staves to heal allies, warp them to another part of the map or boost their defence. Units gain experience in battle, more for achieving a kill. Units can improve their stats with certain items or upgrade to a stronger class by using a Master Seal.

Believe it or not this dragon is on your side.

Got all that? That’s just the start. Between quests you can make preparations for the next map by choosing which units to take, where to position them on the map and what weapons and items you want each one to have in their inventory. The micromanagement you can go into is extremely detailed. Every little nuance affects the way you prepare for and make your way through each quest. It’s deep and richly rewarding. Building up your army is extremely satisfying and every facet of the structure makes for the most addictive video game experience I have ever played.

But there’s one more thing that really sets Fire Emblem apart from other similar games. If one of your units falls in battle you can never use them again. This is unusual for RPGs, most of which only have a few playable characters which almost always revive after battle and sometimes in the same battle if you resurrect them manually. Permanent character death seems to be unique to the Fire Emblem series and will dominate the way you play. You have to be cautious, keep weaker units away from enemy attack ranges, heal your party regularly and prepare for every eventuality. It can be hugely frustrating to have one of your favourite characters suddenly killed. You can switch off and reload your last save to get them back but this of course necessitates regaining lost progress. The problem is slightly alleviated by allowing you to save in mid-quest once or twice but you’ll have to be strategic about when to do even that.

Linde the mage.

So how does Shadow Dragon measure up against the rest of the series? Well, for one thing during this second playthrough I could tell it was a remake more easily than when I first played it. Since getting this I’ve tracked down the Fire Emblem games I had previously missed and having played them I can see how the series has progressed from the early days on which Shadow Dragon is based. There’s less chatting among the characters, fewer enemy units and a number of series conventions, such as support conversations and certain unit classes have fallen away. This, therefore, feels like a slightly simplified experience at times. The one new idea Shadow Dragon brings to the table is the concept of reclassing units. If you find you have too many of one class (which you will because the game throws a lot of cavaliers at you early on) or too few of another you can take an existing unit and change their class to something else entirely giving you greater powers of customisation. It’s nice to have the freedom but it’s hardly needed, plus the unit’s weapon grades are reset to minimum when you reclass. Ultimately there’s no real advantage in doing it.

Shadow Dragon is not the most layered game in the series, nor is it the longest with only 25 missions, not including gaiden chapters though this playthrough still took me 25 hours to complete. We do get a good, likeable set of characters and it’s great to finally play as Marth. Needless to say if you like Fire Emblem this should be a no-brainer. It’s a pretty ideal place to start if you want to get into the series too

Not that the retailers will help much. I bought my copy on the internet and but for several weeks after release I made a point of checking to see if I could find the game on shop shelves anywhere I went that sells games. Not once did I find a copy, even in game shops. It annoys me that mediocre minigame compilations and self-improvement titles get shelf space at the expence a quality publication like Fire Emblem – Shadow Dragon. Sure, it’s a cult series only for hardcore gamers who like RPGs and are strategically-minded but it deserves praise and much more attention.

Presentation – 8

Clean, crisp and polished with probably the best writing in the series. If you’re familiar with the series you might be able to tell it’s a remake due to a slimmer range of content but when everything looks this professional it’s nothing to take issue with.

Gameplay – 9

Devillishly addictive and highly compulsive. Get into a Fire Emblem game and you could very well find you want to do nothing else. Shadow Dragon is a typically nuanced, deep experience that rewards organisation and patience with immense satisfaction.

Graphics – 8

A clear improvement from the GBA games and a darker, more realistic approach. The 3D character sprites don’t have the same charm of past entries but the maps are much more detailed.

Sound – 7

The rousing, addictive themes the series is known for are present and correct and feels appropriate for a game about war. Sound effects are satisfying.

Difficulty – 9

A combination of good enemy AI, fine stat balance and a finite amount of experience available make even the easiest difficulty setting a real challenge. Veterans will relish the high demand on their cunning.

Longevity – 8

Not the longest in the series but still offers a massively lengthy story, with unlockable gaiden chapters, harder difficulties and real replay value.

Verdict

With deep gameplay, tremendous challenge and a high degree of polish Fire Emblem fans, particularly those lucky enough to have been with the series from the start will find Shadow Dragon a real treat. If you’ve not yet dipped a toe into the pool this is an ideal place to start. All-in-all this is one of the finest, most rewarding DS experiences.